29 November 2016

Chestnuts are the ingredient Marta has chosen for November and although I had two or three suggestions selected to prepare for Marta, with all the constrains I had this month, it was not possible for me to prepare all of them and therefore, here is the only one I was able to prepare and it is a very delicious one.

The recipe is from Mimi Thorisson new "French Country Cooking" book and if you are a Mimi lover and if you loved her 1st book, believe me, this second one is 1.000 times better!! An absolute delight from which I have lots of pages selected for the recipes to be tested.

This chicken was the first one and that's the one I'm sharing today because the combination is great and very appropriate for #martaingredientofthemonth.

28 November 2016

Here at home, my husband and kids are totally nuts about Jaffa Cakes and there is no time that my husband goes shopping that he doesn't bring a big box of Jaffa Cakes with him.

I confess, I have never made Jaffa Cakes at home before and so, this was a great opportunity to try this Kate Doran recipe that happens to be the cover of her fabulous Homemade Memories book.

The experience went very well and the photos doesn't pay justice to the fabulous flavour of these Jaffa Cakes as my PC broke and I don't have my Photoshop to edit the photos and I'm working and trying to post on a total strange environment which is my husband laptop...

14 November 2016

As you can read here, the theme for this month's Sweet World is to create a Princess Cake.

A Princess Cake (Prinsesstårta) is a traditional Swedish layer cake consisting of alternating layers of sponge cake, pastry cream and a thick domed layer of whipped cream that is topped with marzipan, giving the cake a smooth rounded top.

The marzipan overlay is usually green, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and often decorated with a pink marzipan rose.

The original recipe first appeared in the 1948 Prinsessornas Kokbok cookbook, which was published by Jenny Åkerström, the teacher of the three daughters of Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland.

The cake was originally called grön tårta (green cake), but was given the name Prinsesstårta or "Princess Cake" because the princesses were said to have been especially fond of the cake. The princesses were Princess Margaretha (1899–1977; later Princess of Denmark), Princess Märtha (1901–1954; later Crown Princess of Norway), and Princess Astrid (1905–1935; later Queen of the Belgians).

The cake is widely featured in Tom McNeal's book "Far Far Away".

This was the first time I made or tasted this cake and the only thing I can say is that this cake is to die for.

Everybody that tasted it was impressed and even some friends, that are not what we call "sweet tooth", couldn't resist it.

It's delicate, moist, delicious and very addictive and the marzipan layer adds that extra explosion of flavour.

Saying that, if, like me, you never tried a Prinsesstårta before, just try it because you'll be in love.

This recipe is a mix of recipes because after doing lots of research throughout my books and throughout the internet, I couldn't decide for one particular recipe and therefore, I decided to take what I liked from each one of them and make the cake that, according to everything I read, would be the closest as possible to the real version.

For the final decoration, you can do whatever you want.

I decorated mine with the marzipan rose, some marzipan leaves that I tinged with darker green food colouring, and white icing to create a "branch" effect, but you can use melted chocolate, only the rose or, whatever you think is appropriate.

31 October 2016

This recipe was lost in the blog drafts for ages. Now that I came across it, I thought it was a shame that I didn't share it before but, as they use to say, better late than never right?The first time I came across the Persian candy floss was in one of the Donna Hay magazines and I remember to think how cool it was.

I'm so into Fika and Hygge (concepts that I wrote about in this post) and Scandinavian cooking that, as soon as I saw this soup in Trine Hahnemann fabulous "Scandinavian Comfort Food" book, I couldn't help it but make it straightaway.

Of course I don't need books or recipes to make soups because all of us can make soup right?The thing is, I love different combinations and different flavours because, although I love soups, I hate boring and bland soups. Something that this soup is not at all. Neither boring nor bland.Actually, it's a fabulous super flavoursome and tasteful soup and that's why I decided to share it with you all and publish it in time for Marta's "October - Pumpkin - Ingredient of the month".

I LOVE pumpkin and how it can be used in either sweet or savoury recipes and this time and for Marta, I made this absolutely amazing and delicious savoury tart.

I used some of my favourite ingredients that, combined, elevated this tart from good to extraordinary!

The combination of pumpkin and sage is a classic that we all know but in this recipe, I used rosemary, which is one of my favourite herbs of all times and yes... I know... I write and say that for every herb I talk or write about but, the thing is, I love them all so much, that I tend to think that the one I'm using in one specific recipe is my favourite one, when actually, might not be, because they all are!...

Anyway... in this recipe I used rosemary in both, pastry and filling and the results were absolutely stunning flavour wise.

Put the flour and butter in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the soured cream and the rosemary and pulse until the dough forms a ball.

Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Once the pastry is chilled, roll it out on a floured surface and line a 23cm loose based tart tin. Line with baking paper and chill for another 20 minutes.

Fill the tart base with baking beans and cook the pastry for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, tip out the baking beans, brush the pastry all over with the egg white (to avoid a soggy bottom) and bake for a further 5 to 10 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and crisp. Take the tin out of the oven and set aside to cool.

for the filling:

600g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes

drizzle of olive oil

150g pancetta, cubed and fried until crispy

150g Dolcelatte, cubed

1 tbsp rosemary, very finely chopped

4 eggs

150ml créme fraîche

150ml double cream

sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Put the pumpkin on a baking tray and toss it with a little olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until tender but still holding its shape. When ready, take the tray out of the oven and set aside to cool.

Spread the pumpkin cubes all over the base of the tart shell.

Sprinkle with the crispy cubed pancetta, followed by the Dolcelatte and the chopped rosemary.

In a bowl, beat together the eggs, crème fraîche, the cream and salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the mixture over the pumpkin, pancetta and Dolcelatte and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes, or until the egg mixture is set and golden brown.

Remove the tart from the oven and allow it to cool slightly or to room temperature before serving.

I love Autumn with its brown and orangy colours and moods and I'm a true pumpkin lover.

Being part of this beautiful virtual gathering with such amazing bloggers and with a recipe that features an ingredient that I love so much, it's a real honour.

This recipe is my interpretation of a classic that my mum and my mother in law always make for Christmas and that we all love.Saying that, here is my suggestion for this amazing virtual party and don't forget to check out the links of all the participants at the bottom of this post. More than 100 bloggers took part and prepared absolutely delicious suggestions.If those links and suggestions don't get you inspired to cook with pumpkin for the rest of the pumpkin season, I don't know what will :))...

for the caramel:

160g sugar

6 tbsp water

unsalted butter, for greasing

for the flan:

300g pumpkin purée

150g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste

6 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks

40g sweet desiccated coconut

200ml full fat milk

200ml double cream

toasted coconut flakes, to sprinkle

method:

Preheat the oven to 160ºC.

Warm a 1.2l dish in the oven, so it is warm when you pour the caramel in it.

To make the caramel, put the sugar and water into a clean stainless steel pan. Dissolve the sugar slowly, stirring with a wooden spoon over a low heat.

When there are no sugar granules left, stop stirring and boil until the sugar turns a dark golden colour.

Remove immediately from the heat to ensure the caramel does not burn. Quickly pour the caramel into the warmed dish. Set aside to cool and become hard. Once the caramel is hard, butter the sides of the dish above the level of the caramel.

To make the flan, whisk the pumpkin purée, caster sugar, vanilla paste, eggs, egg yolks and desiccated coconut together in a bowl until well mixed.

Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan, gently heat over a low heat until you can still just dip your finger in for a moment, then strain the milk mixture through a fine sieve onto the egg mixture in the bowl.

Whisk together until smooth, then pour the mixture into the prepared dish.

Stand the dish in a roasting tin and fill the tin half-way with boiling water from a kettle.

Cook in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until the custard has set.

Take the flan out of the oven, remove the dish from the tray and set on a cooling rack. When cool, transfer to the fridge overnight so that the caramel is absorbed into the custard.

To serve, loosen the sides of the custard with a small palette knife around the edges. Place a serving dish on top of the dish and turn upside down. Serve sprinkled with the toasted coconut flakes.

Being myself a big Bake Off addicted, I couldn't resist the opportunity to take part in this fabulous challenge.

Like Ana (great minds think alike, right?), I always thought of challenging myself at home and try to recreate the technical challenges myself and now is the time to do it.

Ana calls this challenge "Our Great Bake Off" and for October, she challenged us to bake a drizzle cake.

As you all know, I'm a big citrus lover and lemons are on top of my citrus preferences. With that in mind, I couldn't make any other drizzle cake but the only and delicious lemon drizzle cake.

This Raymond Blanc recipe was marked to be baked for years but was forgotten and this is the one I baked for Ana and for "Our Great Bake Off"!

Perfect to eat alongside a cup of tea or coffee, according to Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, a perfect drizzle cake should have a dome and a crack on top and mine has both of them so, I think I baked a perfect drizzle cake...

16 October 2016

It's World Bread Day again and once more, here is my suggestion.I love bread as you all know and since I found out about the World Bread Day that I always bake a special bread for the occasion.In 2014 I baked this delicious Povitica for the World Bread Day; last year, 2015, I baked this scrumptious Brioche with cranberries and Brie.This year is no exception and therefore here is the recipe I came up with.Pumpkin is the ingredient of the month and of course, my bread had to have pumpkin in its composition!Easy as you all know "no knead" breads are, this loaf turned out fantastically well and it was absolutely delicious.Crusty on the outside, chewy inside and full of flavour, my husband defined it as the best bread I ever made... I think that says it all, right?

Cover with cling film and allow to stand overnight.Fry the bacon in a frying pan, until golden and crispy and drain over kitchen paper.Heat 1 tbsp of butter in the same frying pan and when the butter is sizzling, add the sage leaves.Fry the sage leaves until crispy and then drain over kitchen paper.

Gently turn out the dough onto a clean, well floured surface and crumble de crispy bacon over the dough, followed by the crispy sage leaves. Shape the dough into a 20cm round.

Put the dough in a large floured bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to stand for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 230ºC.

Heat a 22cm heavy based ovenproof saucepan in the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and carefully tip the dough into the heated pan.

Cover with the lid and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for a further 30 minutes or until golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped.

Turn the bread out of the pan and allow to cool slightly on a wire rack.